No fans and no media access — how sports leagues are being affected by the coronavirus

The latest coronavirus information shows that, as of March 11, the virus has infected over 121,000 people and killed more than 4,300 worldwide. Many cities and organizations are canceling events that call for a lot of people to gather in person. Here’s how the major sports leagues and organizations are handling the ongoing coronavirus situation.

NBA

“If I show up to an arena and there ain’t no fans in there, I ain’t playing.”

Those were the words of Los Angeles Lakers star Lebron James on March 6 when asked if he would play in an empty stadium if the NBA banned fans from attending games over fear of COVID-19, more commonly known as the coronavirus. James has since re-addressed the issue, saying he would “listen to the people that’s keeping track of what’s going on.”

“We would recommend that there not be large crowds,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the most respected public health official in the United States. “If that means not having any people in the audience when the NBA plays, so be it.”

“While MLB recognizes the fluidity of this rapidly evolving situation, our current intention is to play spring training and regular season games as scheduled,” the league said in a statement.

Like the NBA, MLB has also decided to close clubhouses to non-essential personnel and media, temporarily.

Baseball fans are still coming to spring training baseball games, but they aren’t getting the same access they normally do. The league sent a memo to teams urging players to pre-sign items like baseballs and bats for fans — a recommendation by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in an effort to limit people’s potential exposure to the virus.

While the games appear to be proceeding as scheduled, the league has informed teams to prepare for the possibility of playing games without fans.

NFL

The most popular sports league in the U.S. has not publicly said much about how it is dealing with the coronavirus outbreak.

NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported the NFL is “closely monitoring developments” related to the coronavirus, but have not publicly addressed the issue. It’s the offseason for the NFL as the league has not had a significant league event since Super Bowl LIV on Feb. 2, 2020.

The next upcoming fan event on the league’s calendar is the NFL Draft on April 23. Brian McCarthy, an NFL spokesperson, said plans for the draft, “remain in place.”

NHL

The National Hockey league is yet another league that has temporarily closed its locker rooms to all nonessential personnel in response to the coronavirus outbreak.

Something to watch will be what happens to the San Jose Sharks. Santa Clara County, where the Sharks play, reported its first coronavirus death and has since banned all “mass gatherings” with more than 1,000 attendees.

The team did not respond to a request to comment for this story,

NCAA

Many colleges across the U.S. have moved classes online, and in some cases, canceled classes altogether.

So far, the Ivy League canceled its conference basketball tournaments over coronavirus fears. The Mid-American Conference and the Big West Conference have banned fans from attending their men’s and women’s basketball end-of-season tournaments.

As of Wednesday morning, a CBS spokesperson said “all plans are to go forward” with the NCAA tournament, aka March Madness. CBS broadcasts a large number of NCAA tournament games, including the Final Four.

Europe’s Champions League soccer match between Paris Saint-Germain and Borussia Dortmund is being played without fans at the Parc des Princes in France.

Many Serie A matches, the top Italian soccer league, have been played without fans. Similar to the Olympics, Serie A matches have not been canceled since World War II. The coronavirus outbreak has forced Italy to quarantine millions of people in the northern part of the country.

Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball has delayed the start of its season over fears of spreading the coronavirus. The NPB Commissioner Atsushi Saito said, “We can’t play games in the current situation.” An official start date for the season has not been set.

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